what causes battery terminal corrosion?

[Beatin' 10+ year member]

Long story short, my car wouldn't start and all the electronics reset. Me and my uncle tried figuring why the alternator wasn't charging the battery and was having the lights flicker when given a jump.

Turns out the negative terminal was badly corroded on the inside contact area. We cleaned it with boiling water and baking soda and it was clean and shiny. We hooked it up and gave the car a jump and the lights stopped flickering. Voltage is now stable and charging the battery. Yay!

But my uncle told me my sound system is drawing too much than the alternator can put out and it's somehow causing the terminals to corrode. Is this true?

My alt is 90A. I have the amp tuned to the HU to not draw more than 500-700wrms, but kick drums are often times recorded louder are pulling double or more power, in the 1,500 watt range.

Could this be the reason why the terminals get corroded?

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[Elusiv3Sloth]

Put some dielectric grease on the terminals to prevent corrosion.

 

[jrdnhsnbrg 10+ year member]

Battery terminal corrosion is caused by battery acid leaking out, which can be caused by extreme stress on the battery and age. If you have the amp set to put out 500-700W it's NOT going to put out 1500W. Your cute little 90a alt most likely won't sustain much more than your current system, time to upgrade.

 

[Beatin' 10+ year member]

Battery terminal corrosion is caused by battery acid leaking out, which can be caused by extreme stress on the battery and age. If you have the amp set to put out 500-700W it's NOT going to put out 1500W. Your cute little 90a alt most likely won't sustain much more than your current system, time to upgrade.

the amp can do 1,100wrms. I just don't turn the volume up to pull more than 500-700wrms when bass lines are playing. But when drums hit, it's pulling +3 to +6db more power at the same volume. I know the amp has headroom. The alt and batt can't handle 1500wrms but I thought they can handle brief bursts as heard in a kick drum? It's not an RMS signal so why would the alt and batt get stressed?

 

[jrdnhsnbrg 10+ year member]

the amp can do 1' date='100wrms. I just don't turn the volume up to pull more than 500-700wrms when bass lines are playing. But when drums hit, it's pulling +3 to +6db more power at the same volume. I know the amp has headroom. The alt and batt can't handle 1500wrms but I thought they can handle brief bursts as heard in a kick drum? It's not an RMS signal so why would the alt and batt get stressed?[/quote']
How long have you had this battery in the car? IMO batteries should be replaced every 2-4 years

 

[Beatin' 10+ year member]

How long have you had this battery in the car? IMO batteries should be replaced every 2-4 years

Since 2 months ago.

 

[jrdnhsnbrg 10+ year member]

Since 2 months ago.

Standard lead acid or AGM?

 

[ckunke002 10+ year member]

Every time you put two different (dissimilar) metals together one becomes the anode and one becomes the cathode. When you pass electricity through them the anode then corodes. Nothing wrong with the battery, corrosion happens.

And a good battery should last much longer than 2 years...

Just simply clean em up with baking soda and water and scrub it off, dry it off, cover with grease or petroleum jelly

 

[jrdnhsnbrg 10+ year member]

And is it corrosion or acid that leaked out?

 

[tommydh 10+ year member]

All standard lead acid batteries will corrode withage if not properly maintained. The biggest thing is to apply the grease or Vaseline after terminal installation. Check all connections for tightness. It cant hurt to run a second ground from neg to a solid point either. Depending on vehicle some manufacturers skimp on those. My tundra and four runner bot had a 8 ga wire from neg to the inner lip on fender that would come loose I always replaced wit a 4 gauge to same place but allowed a lil more slack to ensure wire not pulling from crimp.

And is it corrosion or acid that leaked out?

Its corrosion from the acid. Check the water levels in your battery

 

[CrossoverOre 10+ year member]

all metals corrode given a long enough time scale. Any time you add an acid to the mix it accelerates the process. Batteries being full of acid and charging and discharging like they do excites the acid which will sometimes cause vapor. (Which is why you never want to put a lead acid battery inside the cab of a vehicle) The vapor contacts the metal and viola, corrosion. That's the most common reason, but sometimes batteries, given enough internal pressure, will leak liquid acid out causing more corrosion at a faster rate.

 

[jrdnhsnbrg 10+ year member]

Its corrosion from the acid. Check the water levels in your battery

Not necessarily true, metals on their own can corrode. Acid just speeds it up. If it's an AGM no acid should be leaking out, and he can't check water levels.

 

[jrdnhsnbrg 10+ year member]

Every time you put two different (dissimilar) metals together one becomes the anode and one becomes the cathode. When you pass electricity through them the anode then corodes. Nothing wrong with the battery, corrosion happens.
And a good battery should last much longer than 2 years...

Just simply clean em up with baking soda and water and scrub it off, dry it off, cover with grease or petroleum jelly

Batteries in colder climates (like mine, high air temp of 6 today. woo hoo!) don't have as long of a life as those driven and used in warmer climates. That's why I said 2-4.